Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Yemen: Military Intervention

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps is his Department taking to ensure that Saudi Arabia are held accountable by the United Nations for civilian casualties as a result of that country's airstrikes between December 2017 and January 2018.

Alistair Burt: We take alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) very seriously. The UK-sponsored UN Security Council Presidential Statement of 15 March 2018 called upon all parties to the confict in Yemen to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians.When allegations of IHL breaches have been made against Saudi Arabia, it is important that the Saudis, in the first instance, conduct conclusive investigations. The Saudi-led Coalition Joint Incidents Assessment Team has published 55 reports into particular incidents of concern, with the most recent published on 5 March 2018.

Occupied Territories

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has received on the legality under international law of potential UK trade with entities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has in the past received Written Parliamentary Questions, on behalf of their constituents, and correspondence directly from members of the public about British businesses operating in, and trading with, illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We routinely update our guidance to British businesses on the Overseas Business Risk website. We advise British businesses to bear in mind the British Government's view on the illegality of settlements under international law when considering their investments and activities in the region. Ultimately it will be the decision of each individual or company whether to operate in settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Gaza: Borders

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the compatibility with international law of (a) Israeli naval operations off the coast of Gaza and (b) that country's naval blockade there.

Alistair Burt: ​We consider that the level of control that Israel retains over Gaza amounts to occupation under international law and hence that Israel’s conduct is governed by the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, to which Israel is a state party. In line with these provisions the UK continues to call on the Government of Israel to ease movement and access restrictions into and out of Gaza. British officials encouraged an easing of restrictions and improvement in the humanitarian situation in Gaza at the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee on 20 March.

Armed Conflict: Libya

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government was in communication with the (a) Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and (b) 17 February Martyrs' Brigade during the war in Libya in 2011.

Alistair Burt: ​During the Libyan conflict in 2011 the British Government was in communication with a wide range of Libyans involved in the conflict against the Qaddafi regime forces. It is likely that this included former members of Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and 17 February Martyrs' Brigade, as part of our broad engagement during this time.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to Answer of 21 March 2018 to Question 132217 on Foreign and Commonwealth Office: buildings, whether those percentages are calculated by building numbers or building area; and if he will provide that data by money spent by his Department.

Alistair Burt: The percentages given in response to PQ 132217 for owned, leased and loaned properties were calculated by building numbers.The cost for buildings in the UK for financial year 2016-17 was £32,097,479, of which £25,204,465 was for owned buildings (including rates, utilities etc) and £6,893,014 was for leased properties (including rents, rates, utilities etc.)We cannot provide a breakdown for the overseas costs of buildings by tenure type as not all the data that we require for the calculation is currently captured centrally. It would not be possible to provide the information requested on overseas properties without incurring disproportionate cost.

Chechnya: Homophobia

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the progress Russia has made in its inquiry into homophobic persecution in Chechnya.

Sir Alan Duncan: The UK remains deeply concerned by the ongoing persecution of members of the LGBT community in Chechnya. We and our partners will continue to urge Russia to follow through with their commitment to investigate these abuses and hold those responsible to account. We also call on Russia to uphold its international commitments and protect all its citizens from persecution.

Nuclear Weapons

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2018 to Question 131668, on Nuclear Weapons, when (a) Ministers and (b) seniors officials last raised nuclear and missile issues with members of the Russian Government; and what the outcome of those discussions was.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The Government has had a number of exchanges with Russia on nuclear and missile issues over recent months. For instance, senior officials from the UK, US, Russia, China and France – the P5 – met in October 2017 as part of a continuing dialogue on strategic stability and nuclear doctrines.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Official Hospitality

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much money his Department has spent on hospitality in each of the last five years.

Sir Alan Duncan: Our hospitality expenditure over the last 5 years is set out below. As the majority of our expenditure is overseas this is affected by variations in exchange rates.2012-13£9,096,057.532013-14£9,010,820.182014-15£8,177,552.362015-16£7,984,424.092016-17£9,386,848.70

Martin Selmayr

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what correspondence his Department had with the UK Commissioner to the EU on the appointment of Professor Dr Martin Selmayr as Secretary General of the European Commission prior to that appointment.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​There was no such correspondence.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Department for Exiting the European Union: Secondment

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many staff of his Department are seconded from consultancy firms and other third party organisations; and what the cost to the public purse is of those secondments.

Suella Braverman: The Department is continuing to recruit the brightest and the best from across the civil service, the wider public sector and the private sector. The Department currently has 12 staff on secondment with a cost of £593,892.28 excluding VAT from 1 April 2017 to 27 March 2018.

Department of Health and Social Care

Leukaemia: Medical Treatments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the availability of treatments for patients diagnosed with Refractory B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients with Refractory B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia have been unable to access treatments for that condition.

Steve Brine: The following treatments are routinely available, having undergone Technical Appraisals by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). They were previously accessible through the Cancer Drugs Fund. - Blinatumomab for relapsed refractory (r/r) Philadelphia negative acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL); and- Ponatinib for Philadelphia positive ALL in patients in whom imatinib is not clinically appropriate (which might cover some r/r). The following treatments are currently under consideration by NICE: - CAR-T (Tisagenlecleucel-T and also Axicabtagene ciloleucel) for previously treated B-cell ALL in people aged 3 to 21 at initial diagnosis;- Inotuzumab ozogamicin for treating r/r ALL; and- Blinatumomab in other extended indications in ALL. Finally, the following treatments are currently accessible through the Cancer Drugs Fund. - Clofarabine for treating ALL in children after two therapies; and- Nelarabine for treating ALL after two therapies. Information on the number and proportion of patients with refractory B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia who have been unable to access treatments for that condition is not held centrally.

Cancer and Rare Diseases: Medical Treatments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NICE appraisals for new treatments for rare (a) diseases and (b) cancers.

Steve Brine: Most new drugs and significant licence indications are assessed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) through its technology appraisal programme, through which NICE has been able to recommend a significant number of drugs for the treatment of rare cancers and other diseases for routine use on the National Health Service. NICE also operates a separate Highly Specialised Technology evaluation programme for the evaluation of a very small number of treatments for very rare diseases.The methods and processes NICE uses in the development of its guidance are internationally respected, have been developed through extensive engagement with a full range of stakeholders, including the Department, and are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain fit for purpose.

Cancer: Drugs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for the publication of the review of the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Steve Brine: A review of the operation of the Cancer Drugs Fund is currently underway. A summary report from this review is anticipated during 2018-19.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made on recommendation 32 of the NHS Cancer Strategy, Achieving World Class Outcomes, on the adoption of immunotherapy treatments.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made on implementing recommendation 32 of the NHS Cancer Strategy on the adaptation of immunotheropy treatments.

Steve Brine: The development of immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer is an emergent area of clinical practice. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended a number of immunotherapies for routine use on the National Health Service, and these are commissioned by NHS England.

Glaucoma

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what new procedures and operations for treating glaucoma are planned to become available on the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recently published interventional procedures guidance on a number of new procedures and is currently developing guidance on another, all for use in the treatment of glaucoma.NICE interventional procedures guidance makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new operational procedures are sufficiently safe and efficacious for routine use in clinical practice, but does not provide guidance on whether such procedures represent a clinically and cost effective use of NHS resources.It is for commissioners locally to decide based on the available evidence whether to fund a procedure recommended in NICE interventional procedures guidance or any other procedure.

NHS: Reciprocal Arrangements

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much money the UK (a) received from EU Member States for the treatment of EU nationals in the UK on the NHS and (b) paid to EU Member States for the treatment of UK nationals in 2017.

Stephen Barclay: The Department on behalf of the United Kingdom Government reimburses other European Economic Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland for the cost of providing treatment to people we are responsible for under European Union law, irrespective of nationality. In the same way, other EEA countries and Switzerland reimburse the UK for the cost of the National Health Service providing treatment to people they are responsible for under EU law, including UK nationals insured in another EEA country or Switzerland.Member State claims against the UK are in local currency so totals are significantly affected by the exchange rate at the time of payment and can mean a difference of millions of pounds. Member States can submit claims up to 18 months in arrears so claims for any 12 month period do not necessarily reflect treatment provided in that period.Requested figures, for financial year 2016/17, are provided rounded to the nearest pound.EEA Medical CostsUK Claims against Member StatesResource Outturn Totals:2016-17 Activity TotalAustria£568,972Belgium£3,312,035Bulgaria£2,280,152Cyprus£468,363Czech Republic£516,385Denmark (Waiver)£0Estonia (Waiver)£142,688Finland (Waiver)£169,887France£5,253,748Germany£3,166,282Greece£853,919Hungary (Waiver)£24,466Iceland£38,223Ireland£18,477,152Italy£2,340,368Latvia£1,352,936Liechtenstein£0Lithuania£2,152,090Luxembourg£163,818Malta (Waiver)£0Netherlands£4,426,768Norway (Waiver)£731Poland£9,468,363Portugal£1,964,165Romania£1,705,136Slovakia£967,572Slovenia£225,503Spain£4,237,456Sweden£1,616,401Switzerland£595,370Total£66,488,946  EEA Medical CostsMember State Claims against the UKResource Outturn Totals:2016-17 Activity TotalAustria£6,269,483Belgium£5,704,185Bulgaria£306,178Croatia£191,219Cyprus£14,838,498Czech Republic£719,998Denmark (Waiver)£0Estonia (Waiver)£0Finland (Waiver)£15,588France£154,683,554Germany£17,988,547Greece£1,696,191Hungary (Waiver)£5,058Iceland£297,460Ireland£194,726,929Italy£6,554,335Latvia£15,319Liechtenstein£1,944Lithuania£126,242Luxembourg£531,360Malta (Waiver)£0Netherlands£5,285,569Norway (Waiver)£2,752Poland£4,336,048Portugal£5,949,767Romania£13,675Slovakia£551,667Slovenia£257,592Spain£201,343,160Sweden£2,223,612Switzerland£5,522,262Total£630,158,194 Source: Resource Accounting and Budgeting exercise. Totals are based on estimates of the costs of EEA healthcare claims made annually for the purposes of provisions made in the Department’s accounts in accordance with Treasury resource accounting rules. Country totals are rounded to the nearest pound.Notes: Waiver is an agreed intentional relinquishment of healthcare costs between Member States1. Denmark - Full waiver2. Estonia and Norway - Waiver, except former Article 22.1c (patient referral) and Article 55.1c (industrial injury) claims.3. Finland, Hungary and Malta - Waiver, except former Article 22.1c (patient referral) claims. Figures for 2017-18 should be published over the summer.

NHS: Foreign Nationals

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much money the NHS collected in charges for the non-emergency treatment of visitors to the UK in 2017.

Stephen Barclay: The amounts identified and recovered for the 2017/18 financial year will be made available once National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts have published their Annual Accounts.However, in 2016/17, identified income from charging overseas visitors for NHS services was £81.4 million and cash recovered was £30.4 million.

North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much revenue funding has been (a) allocated and (b) paid out to the 5-Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust for 2017-2018 through the Cheshire and Merseyside sustainability and transformation partnership.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust  for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust  for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Wirral Community NHS Foundation Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust  for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Stephen Barclay: Sustainability and transformation partnerships do not allocate revenue or funding; this is done at an organisational level, and all organisations are responsible for managing their own budget.The local, statutory architecture for health and care remains, as do the existing accountabilities for Chief Executives of provider organisations and Accountable Officers of clinical commissioning groups.

Joint Replacements: Surgery

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information he holds on the number of clinical commissioning groups which have introduced requirements for smoking cessation for patients to be eligible for (a) knee and (b) hip replacement surgery.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Clinical Commissioning Groups have a pain threshold that patients must meet to be eligible for (a) knee and (b) hip replacement surgery.

Steve Brine: NHS England has advised that it does not hold this information.

Cataracts: Surgery

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for people requiring cataract surgery.

Stephen Barclay: In order to assist waiting times for people requiring cataract surgery, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to bring forward its guidance on cataracts from 2018 to 2017. The aim of this was to provide National Health Service commissioners with evidence-based guidance from NICE in a bid to ensure patients have access to the most effective treatment as early as possible.In October 2017 NICE published national guidelines on the management of cataracts in adults, outlining that patients should be offered help as soon as their quality of life is impaired. The guidelines are available at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng77NHS England and NHS Improvement have published planning guidance for 2018/19 which sets out the steps that need to be taken across the NHS over the coming year to reduce waiting times. This is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/planning-guidance-18-19.pdfThis confirms that allocations for clinical commissioning groups in 2018/19 will enable an increase in elective procedures and a reduction in the number of patients waiting for over 52 weeks.

Chronic Illnesses: Mental Health Services

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to meet the psychological needs of people with (a) inflammatory bowel disease and (b) other long-term health conditions.

Steve Brine: Inflammatory Bowel Disease is the collective name used to describe ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. To support commissioners and clinicians to deliver evidence based local services for people with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published the best practice guidance, ‘Crohn’s Disease Management in Adults, Children and Young People’, in October 2012 (updated in 2016), and, ‘Ulcerative Colitis Management in Adults, Children and Young People’, in June 2013. Commissioners should have regard to NICE guidance when planning services for local populations.The NICE Crohn’s clinical guideline states that “Inducing and maintaining remission as well as optimising nutritional status and growth, and minimising psychological concerns and possible side effects of treatment are fundamental to best practice for all people with Crohn's disease, whatever their age.” This could include access to psychological support if appropriate. The NICE Ulcerative Colitis clinical guideline states that “Access to psychologists and counsellors is important for a range of problems and people with ulcerative colitis may benefit from their input at various stages of the disease.” Psychological support is highlighted as being particularly important if a patient is considering surgery for their disease, and post-operatively, when surgery has taken place. Again, the guideline is clear that psychological support can play a part in patient care, if appropriate. Both sets of guidance can be found at the following links:www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg166 www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg152Where appropriate and in line with the best available evidence, NICE has also made recommendations on psychological support for other long term conditions in its clinical guidelines. The full range of published guidance can be found at the following link:www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and-diseasesFinally, as set out in ‘Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health’, published in July 2016, the expansion of psychological therapies services will require building skills and capacity in the workforce. This includes top-up training in new competencies for long-term conditions and medically unexplained symptoms for current staff, targeted training in working with older people, and training new staff to increase overall capacity – such as the 3,000 additional mental health therapists located in primary care.

Hospital Beds

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for how many days each hospital in England issued a (a) black and (b) red alert in each of the last 12 months.

Stephen Barclay: The information requested is not held centrally. Since 2016, the Operational Pressures Escalation Level framework has been in use to manage pressures across local systems.

NHS: Public Relations

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many public relations and communications staff have been hired directly by the NHS in each of the last five years.

Stephen Barclay: The Department does not hold the requested information.

NHS: Public Relations

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the NHS budget was spent on public relations consultancy firms in each of the last five years.

Stephen Barclay: This information is not held centrally.

NHS: Nurses

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many nurses left the NHS in each year since 2012.

Stephen Barclay: NHS Digital publishes information on workforce statistics and the following table shows the headcount figures for nurses who left the National Health Service as at September in each specified year.NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): Leavers from the NHS in England who were nurses, 2012 to 2017, headcount HeadcountSeptember 2012 to September 201328,547September 2013 to September 201430,551September 2014 to September 201533,800September 2015 to September 201632,926September 2016 to September 201733,530Source: NHS Digital NHS HCHS workforce statisticsNHS Digital HCHS workforce statistics show that as at December 2017 there were 40,400 more professionally qualified clinical staff, including over 14,700 more doctors and over 6,600 more nurses and midwives, than in May 2010.

Ambulance Services

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for ambulances in each of the last 10 years.

Stephen Barclay: This information is not available in the format requested. Data about ambulance response time performance in England is published monthly by NHS England and can be found online at the following address:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/In July 2017 the Department agreed NHS England’s recommendations to implement an improved ambulance performance framework. These changes improve responses to patients and the efficiency and resiliency of the ambulance service in the face of rising demand. All mainland National Health Service ambulance trusts are now operating against this new framework, and the ambulance service on the Isle of Wight will do so from April 2018. Due to these changes to the waiting time performance standards, data from previous years are no longer comparable.

North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what amount of revenue funding allocated to the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust for 2017-2018 under the Cheshire and Merseyside STP process has been paid.

Stephen Barclay: The Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership (Sustainability and Transformation Plan) did not allocate any funding to North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) in 2017-18 as the Partnership is not a commissioning service.Responsibility for NWAS funding (paramedic and emergency ambulance service) remains with clinical commissioning groups. The contract values for NWAS Paramedic Emergency Service for Cheshire and Merseyside are as follows:CommissionerExpected Annual Contract Value 2017/18 £Cheshire39,676,923Merseyside Total42,189,954

Nurses: Training

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many nursing places have been allocated for the year 2018-19.

Stephen Barclay: In order to meet the growing need for more registered nurses in the future, in England, the Government has announced a further increase in the number of available funded clinical placements for nurse degrees was announced in August and October. This will result in an increase of over 5,000 nurse training places available each year from 2018/19; an increase of 25% from 20,680 available in 2016/17 to 25,850 in 2018/19.Broadening routes into nursing is a priority for the Department in England. That is why we have developed the new nursing associate role and the Nurse Degree Apprenticeship which will open up routes into the registered nursing profession for thousands of people from all backgrounds and allow employers to grow their own workforce.Education and training of National Health Service staff in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales is a matter for the respective Governments.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have Crohn's disease.

Steve Brine: This information is not collected. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline ‘Crohn’s Disease Management in Adults, Children and Young People’ states that there are currently at least 115,000 people in the United Kingdom with Crohn's disease. The full guideline, which was updated in 2016, can be found at the following link:www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg152/resources/crohns-disease-management-pdf-35109627942085

Department for International Development

Jamaica: Prisons

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding the Government has allocated to the costs of a new prison in Jamaica since September 2015; and what the status is of the construction of that prison.

Alistair Burt: In January 2017 the Government of Jamaica formally declined the UK Government’s offer to support the costs of building a new prison in Jamaica. No cost allocation has therefore been made.

Pakistan: Overseas Aid

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of UK aid to Pakistan that has been lost to corruption in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt: The UK Government takes a zero tolerance approach to corruption or misuse of tax payers’ funds in any form. We take all allegations of fraud against aid funds very seriously. These are fully investigated by our Counter Fraud Section. We have robust systems to safeguard aid money and DFID has been recognised as a world-leader in aid transparency.It is right that we use the aid budget to help tackle corruption in developing countries. DFID publishes all confirmed fraud on its external website (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development/about), where details of substantiated fraud losses, before and after recovery actions, are shown. DFID takes a robust approach to the recovery of UK taxpayers’ funds and has achieved high recovery rates over recent years.

Department for Education

Apprentices: Bury North

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeship places have been taken up in North Bury constituency; which sectors those apprenticeships are in; and at what levels those apprenticeships are at.

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of young people in Bury North constituency started an apprenticeship in each year since 2015.

Anne Milton: This information is in the public domain. Apprenticeship starts in the 2016/17 academic year for the Bury North constituency broken down by sector subject areas and levels is published in the apprenticeships section of the ‘Further education data library’: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/661046/201617_apprenticeships_geography_tool_by_sector_subject_area.xlsx. Full year apprenticeship starts by young people (under 19s) between 2011/12 and 2016/17 in the Bury North constituency is published in the ‘Further education data library’: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/675497/FE_and_Skills_Participation_by_Level_-_Age_-_Region_-_LEA_FINALv4.xlsx. The proportion of young people in Bury North starting an apprenticeship is not available from the official data.

Apprentices: Taxation

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to ensure that any Apprenticeship Levy underspend can be retained for the sectors from which that Levy was raised and directed to address specific skills gaps in those sectors.

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of broadening the apprenticeship levy into a wider skills levy which would encompass other forms of training.

Anne Milton: The apprenticeships programme is demand led, and employers will recruit apprentices and spend their funds on the apprenticeship training that they judge best meets their skills needs. The programme makes sure that funds move to where there is a need; to retain levy funds for specific sectors could restrict the use of funding. Using our apprenticeship budget to fund wider skills training would have a significant impact on our ability to meet our target of three million apprenticeship starts by 2020 as less of the funding would be focussed on apprenticeship training. We want to retain and meet this target to give more people the opportunity to get the skills they need to get on in life.

Apprentices: Standards

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made on the extent to which the new apprenticeship standards are closing the skills gap in sectors such as engineering, facilities management and construction.

Anne Milton: The department continues to monitor apprenticeships market performance including levels of starts by sector subject areas such as Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies as well as Construction, Planning and the Built Environment. In the first quarter of this academic year we have seen particular growth in the number of starts at Level 4 and above in Engineering and Manufacturing, in comparison to the same period last year. Quality is at the heart of our changes to apprenticeships and new employer-designed high quality standards are replacing frameworks to ensure apprenticeships meet employers’ needs and address national skills shortages. Employers are taking on the standards rapidly - there were 40,900 apprenticeship starts on the new apprenticeship standards for quarter one of the 2017/18 academic year – more than the whole of last year combined. This represents 36% of all starts in the first quarter of this year compared to 3.1% in the same period the previous year, and much quicker growth than expected - showing that employers are moving to the new higher quality offer. Higher quality training leads to increased productivity; of the new standards approved, 37 are standards in construction and engineering-related occupations and in Facilities Management. Around 300 more standards are in development, including more than 100 in construction and engineering and three more in Facilities Management occupations.

Education: Parents

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to review his Department's guidance to Ofsted on parental engagement.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Education: Cambridge Analytica

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether (a) his Department and (b) any of its agencies has entered into contracts with Cambridge Analytica since 2012.

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department or its agencies has entered into contracts with SCL group.

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether (a) his Department and (b) any of his Department's agencies entered into contracts with Strategic Communication Laboratories in each year since 2010.

Anne Milton: The department have not entered into any commercial contracts with Cambridge Analytica or its parent organisation Strategic Communication Laboratories Group. Since January 2011, details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive. Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search.

Children: Day Care

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of 13 March 2018, Official Report, column 768, what plans he has to make an oral statement on changes to childcare policy in Northern Ireland.

Nadhim Zahawi: Early education is a devolved matter for a restored Northern Ireland Executive and therefore we have no plans to make a statement on changes to childcare policy in Northern Ireland. We are willing to engage with, and provide advice to, the Northern Ireland parties and the Northern Ireland Civil Service based on our experience of developing and administering the 30 hours free childcare policy in England.

Apprentices

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the level of apprenticeship starts on the financial sustainability of (a) employers that are paying the Apprenticeship Levy and (b) training providers.

Anne Milton: For employers that pay the apprenticeship levy, the number of starts affects the amount of funds in their apprenticeship service accounts. Employers have two years to spend their apprenticeship service funds and we are working with them to help plan their programmes and their investment in apprentices. We continue to monitor the impact of the funding reforms on the training provider market. This includes reviewing and assessing the financial health of all providers who contract with the Education and Skills Funding Agency as new financial information becomes available.

Department for Education: Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has met with representatives of the SCL group or Cambridge Analytica; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has not met with representatives of the Strategic Communication Laboratories group or Cambridge Analytica.

Teachers: Training

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the efficacy of the Now Teach training programme; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Now Teach has shown early promise in attracting professional late-stage career changers into teaching, who would not be typically attracted into the profession. 47 trainees began the two-year recruitment and retention programme in September 2017 and 43 remain on the programme. The programme will undergo an independent evaluation as part of the terms of the department’s grant funding.

Teachers: Training

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse is for the marketing of the Teach Now scheme in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17 including the costs of (i) production, (ii) paid-for advertising, (ii) social media including facebook.

Nick Gibb: In 2015-16 the Department spent no public funds on marketing the Now Teach programme. In 2016-17 the Department paid a grant of £11,400 to support the development of the Now Teach programme, through Ark Teacher Training. Up to £5,412 of this funding could be spent on marketing in accordance with Cabinet Office guidance.

Teachers: Training

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which external agencies his Department used to promote the Teach Now scheme in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17 including (i) advertising companies, (ii) public relations companies and (iii) digital media companies; and how much each such agency was paid in each of those years.

Nick Gibb: The Department did not use any external advertising, public relations or digital media companies to promote the Now Teach programme in 2015-16 or 2016-17.

Overseas Students: EU Nationals

Mr Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the Government plans to publish the (a) fee and (b) loan status of EU undergraduate students commencing courses at English higher education providers in the 2019-20 academic year.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he will be able to confirm the fee and loan status of EU undergraduate applicants for the 2019-20 academic year in time to enable universities to meet their consumer and marketing requirements in summer 2018.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Applications for courses starting in 2019/20 do not open until September 2018, and we will ensure EU students starting courses in that academic year have information well in advance of this date.

Schools: Plastics

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to discourage the use of single use plastics in schools.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Government’s Twenty Five Year Environment Plan sets out our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. This requires action across all stakeholders including producers and consumers. The government will work to remove all consumer single use plastics from the central government estate offices.The School Food Standards require that drinking water must be supplied free of charge at all times to school pupils, and we are aware that many schools encourage pupils to use reusable bottles. As part of the science curriculum, children are taught about the scientific concepts that relate to the environment. At key stage 2, pupils should explore examples of the human impact on environments, which can include the negative impact of litter. At present, around 75% of schools in England are members of the Eco-Schools programme. We would like to increase participation in this programme overall and are working actively on anti-littering awareness, including participating in litter picks.

Ministry of Justice

Courts: ICT

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the criteria are for assessing the performance of PwC in its delivery of the digital courts reform contract.

Lucy Frazer: Performance against all work package deliverables is monitored daily at an operational level. All outcomes are signed off by the relevant SRO of the program and monthly surveys are done to check behavioural and knowledge transfer activities. There are also formal reviews, which are conducted at monthly contractual management meetings, to assess against all aspects of the contract.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of tribunal appeals against (a) personal independence payments and (b) employment support allowance assessments were successful in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, and (c) the North East in the last 12 months.

Lucy Frazer: Information about the volumes and outcomes of appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) is published at:www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics. (a) The information provided below is a further breakdown of these data. Proportion of Personal Independence Payment[1] appeals decided in favour of the appellant2October 2016- September 20173Jarrow and South Tyneside456%HMCTS North East Region59%  (b) This information is not held centrally. 1 Personal Independence Payment replaced Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people aged 16 to 64 from 8 April 2013.2 % in favour provides the number of appeals where the decision was found in the favour of the appellant as a percentage of the total number of appeals disposed of (this is inclusive of both those cleared at hearing and those cleared without the need of a Tribunal hearing).3 The latest period for which data are available.4 Social Security and Child Support data are attributed to the hearing venue nearest to the appellants’ home address. For appellants living in Jarrow and South Tyneside appeals are attributed to the South Shields venue. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data available.

Courts: Buildings

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been accrued to the public purse from the sale of court buildings in each year since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: Since 2010, the following proceeds have been received from the sale of HM Courts & Tribunals buildings in each financial year: YearProceeds (£m)2010-113.52011-1255.42012-1336.22013-1418.82014-1516.42015-167.82016-178.82017-18*95.9 *2017-18 financial year figures are for proceeds up until 31 December 2017.

Courts: Closures

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on court staff of his Department's planned court closures.

Dr Phillip Lee: The consultation proposals published on 18 January included information regarding the number of staff located at each site. HM Courts & Tribunals Service will work with the Departmental Trade Unions throughout the consultation period to understand the potential impact on our staff. All members of staff will have the opportunity to put forward their views through the formal consultation process. No decisions will be made regarding the future of any of the courts we are consulting on until all responses have been considered.

Courts: Closures

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the planned court closures on the level of cases heard in courts that will not close.

Dr Phillip Lee: The consultations published on 18 January provide information regarding the workload at each site proposed for closure along with the capacity of the courts which would receive their work should a decision be made to close them. Our initial assessment is that there is sufficient capacity to accommodate the work of the courts proposed for closure at these sites. No decisions will be made regarding the future of any of these courts until all consultation responses have been considered.

Pyramid Selling: Prosecutions

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions there have been relating to pyramid selling schemes under the (a) Fraud Act 2006 and (b) Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 since 2010.

Dr Phillip Lee: Centrally collated data on court proceedings held by the Ministry of Justice do not identify all the specific circumstances surrounding offences which were proceeding against under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. It is therefore not possible to separately identify offences involving pyramid selling schemes without incurring disproportionate cost.

Prisoners: Jamaica

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Jamaican nationals were in UK prisons as of (a) 30 June 2015 and (b) 31 January 2018.

Dr Phillip Lee: On 30 June 2015 there were 619 Jamaican nationals held in prisons in England and Wales, and HMPPS run Immigration Removal Centres, with this figure declining to 448 on 31 December 2017, our most recent published figures. In regard to Jamaican nationals held in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as prisons are a devolved matter, figures would need to be provided by the Devolved Administrations. Any foreign national who comes to our country and abuses our hospitality by breaking the law should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. More than 40,000 foreign national offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, with a record number of over 6,300 removed in 2016/17.

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) Albanian, (b) Nigerian, (c) Somalian, (d) Rwandan, (e) Chinese, (f) Vietnamese and (g) South African nationals were held in UK prisons as of (i) 30 June 2010 and (ii) 31 January 2018; and how many of those prisoners were transferred to serve their sentences in their home nation.

Dr Phillip Lee: Any foreign national who comes to our country and abuses our hospitality by breaking the law should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. More than 40,000 foreign national offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, with a record number of over 6,300 removed in 2016/17.The UK has Prisoner Transfer Agreements in place with over 100 countries and territories around the world, which includes Albania, Nigeria and Rwanda; however, transfer agreements are not in place with China or the Republic of South Africa. Furthermore, while a Prisoner Transfer Agreement is not in place with Somalia, there is a transfer agreement with Somaliland. Between the 30 June 2010 and 31 December 2017, a total of 442 prisoners were transferred from the UK to prisons around the world to serve sentences of imprisonment.The specific information requested is set out in the table below. Please note that the prison population data quoted for 30 June 2010 and 31 December 2017 includes offenders on remand, those serving sentences for civil or financial offences, and those detained under immigration powers in prisons or in HMPPS run Immigration Removal Centres, all of whom are not eligible for prisoner transfer. As such, only a proportion of the offenders in the data quoted will be eligible for transfer, and only to countries where a Prisoner Transfer Agreement is in place.CountryNationals held by HMPPS on 30 June 2010Nationals held by HMPPS on 31 December 2017 (the latest published data)Number of prisoners removed under Prisoner Transfer Agreements, since those arrangements entered into forceAlbania15471623Nigeria7272702Somalia4333200Rwanda20100China364750Vietnam5961354South Africa137750

Prison Service: Dismissal

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2018 to Question 128599, what the grounds were for each of the 419 cases of dismissal of Band 2 to 5 staff from prisons in England and Wales in 2017.

Dr Phillip Lee: The number of band 2-5 staff in the Prison Service in England and Wales who have been dismissed in 2017, by reason are provided in the table below:Table 1: Number of band 2-5 staff in the Prison Service who have been dismissed, by reason, January - December 2017 Headcount of staffConduct73Unsatisfactory Attendance/Medical Efficiency1201Poor Performance12Other133Total419 1 Since January 2017, information regarding dismissals as a result of medical inefficiencies have been recorded as unsatisfactory attendances. Therefore, these categories have been combined.

Youth Courts: South Tyneside

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of moving the Sunderland Youth Court to South Tyneside for victims, families and young people in Sunderland.

Dr Phillip Lee: No assessment has been made by the Secretary of State. The decision followed a local public consultation in spring 2017 which assessed and considered the merits of moving the Sunderland Youth Court work to South Tyneside Court.

Work Capability Assessment: Appeals

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals were heard by HM Courts and Tribunal Service in response to a Fit for Work decision; and how many initial decisions were overturned, in each month in 2017.

Lucy Frazer: This information is not held centrally. Information about the volumes and outcomes of appeals to the Social Security and Child Support tribunal is published at:www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics The latest statistics, for the period October to December 2017, published on 8 March, can be viewed at:www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2017.

Prisoners: Mental Illness

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve conditions for prisoners with mental health problems in prisons in England.

Dr Phillip Lee: We continue to work closely with our health partners to support the commissioning and delivery of high quality health services in all prisons, including for prisoners with mental health problems. Prison governors will work with NHS England commissioners to support improvements driven by the new NHS England mental health service specification for prisons.My Department has also taken expert advice from clinicians, commissioners and social care experts on the design of new prisons to ensure that we create the right environment for treatment and care.

Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission

General Election 2017

Simon Hart: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2018 to Question 132978, how many of the allegations of electoral fraud concerning the 2017 General Election of which they were made aware were then passed to the relevant police force.

Bridget Phillipson: Where the Electoral Commission is made aware of allegations of electoral fraud it advises the complainant to contact their local police force or Crimestoppers. It does not record where such advice has been provided.Statistics reported to the Electoral Commission by police forces across the UK show that in 2017 there were 148 cases in relation to alleged electoral fraud at the UK Parliamentary General Election. There were a further 168 cases relating to other election types, and 20 cases recorded as non-election specific.It is not possible to know which of these cases may have resulted from advice given to a complainant by the Commission.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Energy Performance Certificates

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2017 to Question 111244 and the Answer of  23 January 2018 to Question 123366 on Energy Performance Certificates, how many working hours have been taken to (a) collate and (b) assess that information; and what the timetable is for the completion of that work.

Dominic Raab: The Department has not recorded the time spent on collating and assessing the data returned by trading standards' bodies so the information requested is not available. The Department will set out the conclusions of its work in due course.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Cambridge Analytica

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether (a) his Department and (b) any of its agencies has entered into contracts with Cambridge Analytica since 2012.

Jake Berry: Please see answer to Question UIN 134008, answered on 29 March 2018.

Housing: Older People

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to increase the supply of retirement housing, and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Raab: The proposals set out in the Housing White Paper underline our commitment to do more to provide the homes we need for all in our society, including new retirement homes. The Government is strengthening national planning policy so that local planning authorities are expected to have clear policies for addressing the housing needs of older people. We will be publishing further guidance on housing for older people this summer.In addition, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee’s report into Housing for Older People has made wide-ranging recommendations to improve this housing provision, to which the Government is currently preparing its response.

Private Rented Housing

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of trends in the number of landlords using (a) licence agreements, and (b) tenancy agreements.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Department has made no estimate. The Government monitors broad trends in housing, including the number of households in rented housing, through the English Housing Survey.The English Housing Survey Headline Report 2016-17 reported that the private rented sector accounted for 4.7 million or 20 per cent of households. The social rented sector accounted for 3.9 million households or 17 per cent of households. There was no change in the size of either sector between 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Social Rented Housing: Schools

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the average first year public sector set-up cost for a new resident in any part of England needing social housing and two school places for children.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Department has made no such estimate. Local authorities are responsible for drawing up and managing their own social housing allocation schemes, within the legislative framework.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Income

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the Government received in income for services provided by his Department to foreign governments in each year since 2010; and for what services was such income received.

Guto Bebb: Holding answer received on 16 March 2018



This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Ministry of Defence: Cambridge Analytica

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has had discussions with (a) Cambridge Analytica, (b) SCL Group and (c) Strategic Communication Laboratories on the statement on the Cambridge Analytica website that its methodology has been approved by his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Guto Bebb: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 March 2018 to Question 133873 to the hon. Member for Glasgow South (Mr McDonald).



133873 - MOD: Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group
(Word Document, 22.32 KB)

Ministry of Defence: Catering

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2018 to Question 132002, on Ministry of Defence: Catering, how many companies have had catering contracts with his Department and its agencies since 2010.

Guto Bebb: A total of seven companies have held Prime Contracts for catering with the Department since 2010.

Ministry of Defence: Procurement

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many meetings (a) he, (b) ministers of his Department and (c) officials of his Department have had with (i) representatives of (a) Cambridge Analytica, (b) SCL and (c) Global Science Research and (ii) Alexander Nix.

Guto Bebb: The records show that there have been no meetings between Ministers in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Cambridge Analytica, SCL Group, Global Science Research or Alexander Nix.As with all Government Departments, the MOD publishes quarterly details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations on gov.uk. These can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-with-external-organisations-in-the-ministry-of-defence.A list of meetings with officials can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Defence: Expenditure

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what funding his Department allocated to (a) submarines, (b) combat air, (c) air support, (d) ships, (e) helicopters, (f) land equipment, (g) weapons and (h) intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance in 2016-17.

Guto Bebb: A breakdown of the budgets issued to the eight main Defence Equipment and Support Operating Centres in financial year 2016-17 is shown below. Operating Centre2016-17 (£millions)Submarines3,796Combat Air2,229Air Support1,374Ships2,008Helicopters917Land Equipment1,116Weapons1,262ISTAR416

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of enabling all applicants to retain their benefits pending the outcome of a tribunal proceeding on their claim.

Sarah Newton: The law, save for one exception, has never provided for the payment of benefit pending a tribunal hearing where entitlement has ended. (Historically the one exception has related to benefits where entitlement is linked to capacity for work. Today this means that some ESA claimants can be paid the basic rate of ESA pending their appeal being heard.)

Department for Work and Pensions: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2018 to Question 132230 on Department for Work and Pensions: buildings, how much was spent on property that was (a) rented and (b) occupied through other agreement in the last three years.

Kit Malthouse: Since 1998 the Department for Work and Pensions occupies space provided through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) known as the PRIME Contract which expired on 31 March 2018. Under the terms of this PFI Contract the Department leases fully serviced accommodation from our private sector partner Telereal Trillium, which includes a variety of facility management services. The Department has spent the following on property in the last 3 years: 2014/152015/162016/17 £m£m£mDWP PRIME PFI property running costs520.2540.1528.8Local Authority Leases/Licences & Memorandum of Terms of Occupation agreements with other government departments property running costs25.325.226.8Leases with other landlords, property running costs0.35.85.5Utilities26.324.625.3 572.1595.8586.4

Employment and Support Allowance

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the removal of the work-related activity component for employment support allowance on the incomes of claimants in the work-related activity group.

Sarah Newton: There are no cash losers among those in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and the Universal Credit equivalent prior to April 2017, including those who temporarily leave ESA to try out work and then return. New claimants from April, who are capable of preparing for work, receive a rate of benefits on a par with Jobseeker’s Allowance. The Government published its assessment of the impacts of the change to the work-related activity component on 20 July 2015. http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006B.pdf

Jobseeker's Allowance

Christina Rees: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what formula is used to determine the figures for the JSA Applicable Amount as set out in regulations 83 and 84 (1) of Schedule 1 on Applicable Amount Part 1 Personal Allowances in the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations 1996.

Alok Sharma: The “applicable amount” for Jobseeker’s Allowance is set each year by the government after a review of the level of benefit that a claimant may receive. The rates for Jobseeker’s Allowance were originally based on the equivalent provisions for Income Support, which were in force in October 1996, when JSA replaced the element of that benefit for those who are unemployed, on low or no income or other financial means and are available and looking for work. The proposed benefit and pension rates for 2018/19 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proposed-benefit-and-pension-rates-2018-to-2019

Jobcentre Plus: Brent

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to assess the effect of closing Willesden and Kilburn Job Centre Plus in Brent; and if he will make a statement.

Alok Sharma: In March 2018, the 20-year contract covering the majority of DWPs current estate of over 900 sites came to an end. This presented an opportunity to re-evaluate what we needed from our estate. The increased use of our online services in recent years, coupled with reductions in unemployment and improved efficiency, meant that 20% of the rent being paid by DWP was going toward space we were not using. In response, we have sought to redesign our estate in a way that delivers value for the taxpayer. We would stress that this is not about reducing services, but about taking the opportunity to stop spending money on empty space so we can spend more on supporting those in need. The face-to-face support our work coaches offer at jobcentres will continue to be a core part of the service we deliver. The Department has a number of co-located colleagues working to support the community in Brent. These include: Troubled families advisers co-located within Brent Local Authority alongside social workers, providing employment and skills support. Work coaches working with the care leaver team within Brent Local Authority providing employment and skills support to care leavers, including appropriate access to relevant benefits. A Work Coach providing employment and skills support on an outreach basis in St. Raphael’s Estate in Brent. This is one of the most deprived estates in the borough. The Work Coach is based in the community hub alongside other local authority service providers. DWP will also explore with Brent Local Authority jointly funding an employment team to deliver employment advice and guidance through community hubs, which will be located in Willesden, Kilburn, Harlesden and St. Raphael’s Estate. DWP will provide employment and skills support alongside the Employment Team managed by the council, with the aim of having a more holistic support offer working in partnership with Housing, Health and Financial Inclusion advice and support.

Universal Credit

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time has been between the submission of a claim for universal credit and receipt of payment in (a) Lanark and Hamilton East constituency and (b) the UK.

Alok Sharma: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 126370 on 09 February 2018.

Universal Credit: Lanark and Hamilton East

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of Universal Credit in Lanark and Hamilton East constituency have applied for an advance payment.

Alok Sharma: Data on the number of applications for a Universal Credit advance is not held by the Department. Our latest internal data indicates that, for eligible new claims to Universal Credit Full Service that were due a first payment in January 2018, 60% received either a ‘new claim’ or ‘benefit transfer’ advance.

Access to Work Programme

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January to Question 125002 on the Access to Work Programme, whether her Department has identified an effect on equality since the cap on grants was introduced in October 2015.

Sarah Newton: Since the introduction of the Access to Work Cap in October 2015 in line with all changes to government policy, the impact of these changes on individuals and groups has been monitored in accordance with the public sector equality duty contained in the Equality Act 2010 against protected characteristics and decisions taken with reference to those impacts. We intend to publish an update to the Equality Analysis published in May 2015 as a formal addendum.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-access-to-work

Universal Credit: Scotland

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department last discussed the use of universal credit split payments with the Scottish Government; and if she will make a statement.

Alok Sharma: DWP and the Scottish Government have had early discussions about the Scottish Government’s split payment policy, with the most recent on 22 March. We will be holding an initial workshop in the near future. Universal Credit Alternative Payment Arrangements, including split payments, are already available across the country for vulnerable claimants.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Supermarkets: Trolleys

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will bring forward legislative proposals to require supermarkets to collect discarded shopping trolleys.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 amended the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to give local authorities powers to seize, store and dispose of abandoned shopping and luggage trolleys. They can also recover costs from the owners of the trolleys. Local authorities and other land managers may also use Community Protection Notices (under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014) to prevent unreasonable behaviour that is having a negative impact on the local community's quality of life.

Retail Trade: Packaging

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to support the reduction of excess packaging when purchasing products online.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations already place a legal obligation on UK businesses that make or use packaging to ensure that a proportion of the packaging they place on the market is recovered and recycled. This creates an incentive for all companies to minimise their packaging as this will reduce their costs in complying with the Regulations. However, we have committed to exploring changes to the packaging producer responsibility scheme. This will look at all aspects of the regime, including mechanisms to incentivise better design for packaging and minimise its use.

European Chemicals Agency

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has held with the UK downstream oil industry on its future relationship with the European Chemicals Agency; and what steps he is taking to ensure there is no (a) disruption to UK-EU (i) trade and (ii) investment in chemical substances and (b) additional cost to UK industry after the UK leaves the EU.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We have been engaging with a range of chemical stakeholders, including the UK downstream oil industry, in preparation for the UK leaving the EU. While it would not be appropriate to pre-judge the outcome of the negotiations we will discuss with the EU and Member States how best to continue cooperation in chemicals regulation. In her Mansion House speech the Prime Minister said that we will also explore the terms on which the UK could opt to remain part of the European Chemicals Agency. In the meantime the recent agreement on the implementation period will give businesses certainty that common rules will remain in place until the end of 2020. This means that chemical businesses in the UK can plan with confidence on the basis that they can operate as now throughout the implementation period.

Home Office

Shops: Crimes of Violence

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that violence against shopworkers is recorded by police forces.

Victoria Atkins: Violence is unacceptable wherever it takes place, and violence or abuse against retail staff should not be tolerated. We encourage all victims, including shopworkers, to report these crimes to the police whenever they occur so that they can be recorded and investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.Through the National Retail Crime Steering Group, we are working with our partners across government, the police and in the retail sector to explore what more can be done to prevent and tackle violence and abuse against retail staff.

Alcoholic Drinks: Scotland

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential effect on (a) cross-border trade and (b) smuggling of the introduction of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in Scotland; and if she will make a statement.

Victoria Atkins: The impact assessment carried out in 2012 by the previous Government on introducing MUP in England and Wales examined possible risks of both smuggling and consumers purchasing lower cost alcohol from across the border.That assessment found that this would be unlikely to become a significant issue as the costs associated with travelling across borders from the main centres of population in Scotland were deemed likely to outweigh the benefits of purchasing a cheaper product. Minimum Unit Pricing and its effects will continue to remain under review pending the impact of its implementation in Scotland.

Terrorism

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information the Government holds on with which groups Salman Abedi and his father, Ramadan Abedi, fought in Libya in 2011.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Home Office does not comment on intelligence matters nor on matters which form part of ongoing investigations.

Shops: Crime

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Local Shop Report 2017, published by the Association of Convenience Stores, what steps she is taking the reduce the level of convenience store crime.

Victoria Atkins: The Government takes retail crime very seriously. We recognise the damage and disruption that different crimes can have on businesses including smaller businesses and convenience stores.Through the National Retail Crime Steering Group, which I co-chair with the British Retail Consortium, we bring together representatives from government departments, the police and the retail sector, including the Association of Convenience Stores, to focus on the crime issues that affect businesses of all sizes. This includes addressing the crimes that affect retail establishments and improving the safety of the staff who work in them.

Home Office: Procurement

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many meetings (a) she, (b) Ministers of her Department and (c) officials in her Department have held (a) Cambridge Analytica, (b) SCL, (c) Global Science Research and (d) Alexander Nix.

Victoria Atkins: No records have been found of meetings between the (a) the Secretary of State of the Home Department; (b) Ministers of her Department; or (c) officials in her Department and (a) Cambridge Analytica, (b) SCL, (c) Global Science Research and (d) Alexander Nix.

Crime Prevention: Glasgow

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Police Scotland’s violence reduction unit in Glasgow, and whether she has plans to replicate the work of that unit in England.

Victoria Atkins: We have not made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Violence Reduction Unit in Scotland. We will shortly be publishing our new Serious Violence Strategy which will respond to concerns about serious violence especially recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide.The approach we will set out in the Strategy will give much more of an emphasis to prevention and steering young people away from crime in the first place, and it will put in place measures to tackle the root causes of the problem.

Cabinet Office

Travellers: Equality

Kate Green: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General of 2 November 2016, Official Report, column 879, which Government Departments and agencies (a) do and (b) do not use the 2011 census classifications that differentiate Gypsies and Travellers.

Mr David Lidington: The ethnicity data published on the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website includes data from the Census, published official statistics, numerous Government surveys and Departments’ own administrative records.Currently, the website has 48 measures (web pages) that present data using the detailed classification of ethnicity developed for the 2011 Census, which includes Gypsy/Roma Travellers. These measures show data published by the following Government Departments and agencies: the Department for Education (DfE), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Home Office (HO), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However, figures for the Gypsy/Roma Travellers (GRT) ethnic group in some of these measures were suppressed for reasons of confidentiality and/or because the numbers were too small to enable robust estimates to be produced.DfE collects data using a variant on the 2011 Census ethnic classification but breaks it down further into Gypsy/Roma and Traveller of Irish Heritage children.The table below details the 34 pages on the website that include data on Gypsy/Roma or Traveller of Irish Heritage or Gypsy, Traveller or Irish Traveller ethnic groups. Department/TopicWebpageDFE /Education, skills and trainingEarly yearsAttainment of development goals by children aged 4 to 5 years5 to 7 year oldsPhonics attainments for children aged 5 to 7 (key stage 1)Reading attainments for children aged 5 to 7 (key stage 1)Writing attainments for children aged 5 to 7 (key stage 1)Mathematics attainments for children aged 5 to 7 (key stage 1)Science attainments for children aged 5 to 7 (key stage 1)7 to 11 year oldsReading attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2)Writing attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2)Maths attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2)Reading, writing and maths attainments for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2)Grammar, punctuation and spelling attainment for children aged 7 to 11 (key stage 2)11 to 16 year oldsA* to C in English and Maths GCSE attainment for children aged 14 to 16 (key stage 4)GCSE results (Attainment 8) for children aged 14 to 16 (key stage 4)English Baccalaureate (EBacc) entry for children aged 14 to 16 (key stage 4)English Baccalaureate (EBacc) achievement for children aged 14 to 16 (key stage 4)Pupil progress (‘Progress 8’) between ages 11 and 16 (key stage 2 to key stage 4)A LevelsStudents aged 16 to 18 achieving 3 A grades or better at A levelAfter EducationDestinations of school pupils after key stage 4 (usually aged 16 years)Destinations of students after key stage 5 (usually aged 18 years)Absence and exclusionsPupil exclusionsAbsence from schoolDH/HealthAccess to treatmentSatisfaction with access to GP servicesAccess to NHS dental servicesPatient experiencesPatient experience of primary care - GP servicesPatient satisfaction with GP out-of-hours servicesPatient satisfaction with NHS dental servicesInpatient satisfaction with hospital careMHCLG/HousingSocial housingNew social housing lettingsRoutes into social housingVulnerable households living in social housingIncome spent on rent for new lettings of social housingLength of tenancy in social housingMHCLG/Culture and CommunityPeople living in deprived neighbourhoodsONS/Culture and CommunityEnglish language proficiency

Electoral Register

Alex Norris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to increase voter registration among under-registered groups.

Chloe Smith: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 28 March 2018.The correct answer should have been:

I continue to have regular conversations with the Secretary of State for Scotland on the return of powers from Brussels to Holyrood following exit from the EU. Furthermore, we are both part of JMC(EN) where this, amongst other issues, has been discussed with the devolved administrations. Our inaugural National Democracy Week in July is going to be a UK-wide event, intended to increase democratic engagement among a wide range of under-registered groups. Last Wednesday we launched its website and a youth engagement toolkit for parliamentarians and later this year will recruit and train youth Democracy Ambassadors.

Mr David Lidington: I continue to have regular conversations with the Secretary of State for Scotland on the return of powers from Brussels to Holyrood following exit from the EU. Furthermore, we are both part of JMC(EN) where this, amongst other issues, has been discussed with the devolved administrations. Our inaugural National Democracy Week in July is going to be a UK-wide event, intended to increase democratic engagement among a wide range of under-registered groups. Last Wednesday we launched its website and a youth engagement toolkit for parliamentarians and later this year will recruit and train youth Democracy Ambassadors.

Northern Ireland Office

Roads: Belfast

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether the Government plans to release the funding for the Yorkgate Interchange project.

Mr Shailesh Vara: In the Secretary of State’s Ministerial Statement of 8 March 2018, she set out resource and capital allocations for Northern Ireland Departments in 2018/19. These allocations included £410m in financial support arising from the financial Annex to the Confidence and Supply Agreement including a £200m boost in capital expenditure to fund key infrastructure projects, such as the York Street Interchange.

Public Expenditure: Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to her oral contribution of 12 March 2018, Official Report, columns 641 to 642, whether she plans to set the budget for Northern Ireland through an Order-in-Council; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland set out in a Written Ministerial statement about Northern Ireland Finances on 8 March resource and capital allocations for Northern Ireland Departments for the financial year 2018/19. On 20 March, the Secretary of State brought forward the Northern Ireland Budget (Anticipation and Adjustments) Bill which would provide a “Vote on Account” for the Northern Ireland Administration to undertake expenditure in the early months of 2018/19 for day to day spending. This vote on account is part of the normal estimates process and these allocations will need to be placed on a legal footing later in the year. We hope a restored Executive will be in place to take this through the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Secretary of State does not have the power to take forward a budget through an Order-in-Council.

Children: Day Care

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of 13 March 2018, Official Report, column 768, what plans she has to discuss with Northern Ireland political parties the roll out of childcare support in Northern Ireland similar to 30 hours of funded childcare in England.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Holding answer received on 20 March 2018



I refer the honourable Member to the answer given by my Rt honourable Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 26 March 2018 (UIN 133099).

Northern Ireland Office: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2018 to Question 132223, on Northern Ireland Office: Buildings, what the annual cost to the public purse is of the use of each of those sites by her Department.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The annual cost to the public purse of the use of the buildings identified in the previous answer to question 132223 is shown below: BuildingAnnual Cost (£)Horse Guards Road859,774Stormont House693,683Hillsborough Castle311,328 This cost is based on expenditure incurred in the most recent complete financial year.

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Buildings

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2018 to Question 132221, on Department for International Trade: Buildings, what the annual cost of renting each type of accommodation is.

Graham Stuart: The DIT leasehold buildings rental costs are £5.26M.The freehold building in Whitehall attracts a nominal rental cost of £1.The remaining DIT accommodation costs are £973k, which includes an element of rent under the memorandum of terms of occupation arrangements with other government departments.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Facebook: Data Protection

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in the US administration on the role of (a) Cambridge Analytica, (b) Strategic Communications Laboratories, (c) Global Science Research and (d) Aleksandr Kogan in obtaining personal data from Facebook.

Margot James: We have not had any such discussions.

Facebook: Data Protection

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will place minutes and notes of any meetings held between his Department and representatives of Facebook on the potential security breach of UK citizens’ data in the Library.

Margot James: We do not routinely publish minutes of private meetings to encourage full and frank dialogue within the meetings.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: SCL Group

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether (a) his Department and (b) any of his Department's agencies entered into contracts with Strategic Communication Laboratories in each year since 2010.

Margot James: We have held no such contracts. Since January 2011, details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Procurement

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings (a) he, (b) Ministers of his Department and (c) officials in his Department  have held with representatives of (a) Cambridge Analytica, (b) SCL Group, (c) Global Science Research and (d) Alexander Nix.

Margot James: None.

Local Press

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department has taken to protect the independence of regional press organisations.

Margot James: We are committed to a free and independent press, and only intervene in cases where publishers have broken the law. This is vital to a strong and fully functioning democracy where the powerful can be held to account without fear.

Broadband: Harewood

Alec Shelbrooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timetable is for the village of Harewood in Elmet and Rothwell constituency to be included in the roll-out of superfast broadband; and what is policy is on BT Retail advertising broadband speeds well in excess of those actually available to customers.

Margot James: The superfast broadband rollout is planned for Harewood under an extension of our current Contract 2 deployment programme with our partner, Openreach. This has been delayed due to a number of technical issues but we are expecting these to be resolved very soon. From March 2019, Ofcom will require providers to tell customers ‘minimum guaranteed speed’ and ‘more realistic speed’ estimates for peak times. If a customer's broadband speed falls below the minimum guaranteed speed, the provider will have a month to improve speed, after which customers will have the right to exit their contract without paying a penalty. Guidance from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) also states that, from 23 May 2018, numerical speed claims should be based on the download speed available to at least 50% of customers at peak time, and described as ‘average’.

Television: Scotland

Paul Masterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential economic benefits for (a) East Renfrewshire constituency and (b) Scotland of the BBC’s proposals to launch a new Scottish television channel.

Margot James: As the independent regulator of the BBC, Ofcom is currently conducting a competition assessment on the BBC’s proposal to launch a new television channel for Scotland. The competition assessment will consider whether the public value offered by a new BBC channel would justify any potential adverse effects on fair and effective competition.

Film and Television

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has a policy to attract the television and film industry to work in the UK.

Margot James: The strength of the UK’s production sector is rooted in international confidence in the film-friendly policies of this government, including funding for the British Film Institute and British Film Commission, as well as the attractive fiscal environment created by the government’s creative sector tax reliefs. Such support, along with the world-class excellence of UK talent, crews and locations, continues to cement the UK’s reputation as a leading global destination for film and TV production. 2017 saw a new record for expenditure on inward investment film and television production with £1.69 billion for film, a 23% increase on the previous year, and £684 million for high-end television production, a 27% increase on 2016.

World War I: Anniversaries

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department plans to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War.

Michael Ellis: The final year of the Government's four year programme to commemorate the centenary of the First World War will see a series of events to commemorate the end of the War, and the path to peace. On Monday 26 March an event was held to commemorate the centenary of the appointment of Marshal Foch as Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front, at the statue of the Marshal in Lower Grosvenor Gardens. It was attended by the French Ambassador, and the French Minister of State for Veterans and Remembrance. On 8 August we will commemorate the centenary of the the Battle of Amiens and the subsequent 'Hundred Days' Offensive with an event in Amiens Cathedral in Northern France. It is being delivered in partnership with the governments of Australia, Canada, France and the United States of America. The public ballot for tickets to attend the event opened on 9 March, and will close on 9 April. Members of the public who wish to attend can apply via the web-page or in writing to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The government’s programme of centenary events will culminate on 11 November 2018 with a series of events across the UK to mark the centenary of the Armistice. The National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph will follow traditional lines, to respect its wider purpose in remembering the fallen of all conflicts. The traditional veterans’ parade will then be followed by a civilian procession made up of 10,000 members of the public who wish to show their thanks to a generation who gave so much for the freedoms we enjoy today. An announcement regarding the public ballot for tickets to participate in this procession will be made in May. During the day, church and other bells will ring out as they did in 1918 to mark the end of the war. The government is supporting the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers to recruit 1,400 bell ringers (the number that were lost during the war) to create a national peal that will echo the impromptu outpouring of relief and joy that took place 100 years ago. The commemorations will conclude in the evening with a national service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey in London. Similar services will also take place in Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast. In addition to the national events, the other elements of government programme, such as the Schools' Battlefields Tours, the schools 'Great War Debates', the Victoria Cross Paving Stones, and funding for the repair and restoration of War Memorials will continue to ensure that the final year of the War and the Armistice are commemorated appropriately.

Swimming Pools: Closures

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many public swimming pools have closed in each constituency since 2010.

Tracey Crouch: Information on the number of swimming pools that have closed and opened in each of the last 5 years is available via Sport England’s Active Places Power database which can be accessed here:https://www.activeplacespower.com/. The information is not held at constituency level but is available at local authority level. Between 2017 and 2021 Sport England is investing £12.16 million in Swim England to get more people swimming, and £27.5 million through its Strategic Facilities Fund to construct 21 new state of the art leisure facilities which include swimming pools. Government has set up an implementation group to explore the recommendations from the school swimming report published by the Swim Group in 2017, including how we can work with local authorities and private operators to make better use of facilities.

Women and Equalities

Females: Voting Rights

Dawn Butler: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what the value of the contract is for Ecorys to administer the Women's Vote Centenary Grant Scheme.

Victoria Atkins: The Chancellor announced a £5 million fund in the Budget in March 2017 to help celebrate the centenary of women’s suffrage. My officials at the GEO have set up a number of projects to mark this important anniversary in British democracy.The largest proportion of the fund has been allocated to the Women’s Suffrage Centenary Grant Scheme. The total value of the contract is £1.5m (incl. VAT). Of that figure, 7% (£108,000) is allocated to Ecorys to administer the Centenary Grant Scheme, and 93% (£1,392,000) is allocated to two funding streams: the small grants stream has a ceiling of £2,000 to support small local celebratory events. The larger grants stream covers projects from £2,000 to £125,000 that will increase young people’s understanding of and engagement with democracy; and encourage women to participate in public life.The contract has been published on the government contracts finder page and can be accessed here: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/c545f59a-95c2-435e-b9db-959121563339

Employment: Clothing

Dawn Butler: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether the government has plans to publish guidance on dress codes that state that (a) policy and (b) practice by employers must be non-discriminatory.

Victoria Atkins: The Government takes the issue of workplace discrimination very seriously.Following the inquiry into high heels and workplace dress codes, the House of Commons Petitions Committee and Women and Equalities Select Committee recommended that the Government Equalities Office (GEO) produce guidance on dress codes. The GEO has worked with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to prepare guidance for employers and employees to help them understand how discrimination law and health and safety law apply to workplace dress codes.The purpose of the GEO dress code guidance is to raise awareness of existing statutory protections, so employers can avoid discriminatory policies and practices on dress codes. We will publish this guidance shortly.

Equal Pay

Dawn Butler: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to tackle discrimination in the workplace to help reduce the gender pay gap.

Victoria Atkins: In 2017, the government introduced ground-breaking regulations requiring large employers, in both the public and private sector, to publish their gender pay gaps annually. The transparency generated by these regulations will motivate employers to identify barriers to women’s progression in the workplace, and to take action to address them.This builds on previous success in using transparency to drive change, including our support for the Hampton-Alexander Review to achieve 33% women on boards, and 33% women in Executive Committees and positions reporting directly to the Executive Committee in the FTSE 350 by 2020.In October 2017 we also published the Race Disparity Audit to give an unprecedented insight into how people from different ethnic backgrounds are treated in society, including their access to healthcare, education, employment and in the criminal justice system.These actions are underpinned by legislation to safeguard rights in the workplace. The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate against someone because of pregnancy or maternity. The Equality and Human Rights Commission and Acas provide advice and guidance to employees who feel they have experienced discrimination. We also fund the Equality Advisory and Support Service, a free advice helpline open to anyone in England, Scotland and Wales who feels that they may have been the victim of unlawful discrimination.

Elections: Females

Dawn Butler: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to encourage more women from diverse backgrounds to enter elected politics.

Victoria Atkins: The Government has commissioned an evidence review to identify the barriers that limit women’s participation in national government. The aim is to provide political parties with a range of solutions to draw on.We are also developing a programme to inspire young women, from all backgrounds, to be leaders in their communities, and develop the skills and aspiration for careers in public life, at all levels of governance. We will share more details in due course.Additionally, the Centenary Grant Scheme will award funding to projects to encourage women to participate in public life. We will prioritise projects that are aimed at women and/or young people who are underrepresented such as people from lower socio-economic groups, people who are BAME, LGBT and/or living with a disability.

Equal Pay

Alex Sobel: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that all employers with over 250 employees report their gender pay gap statistics by 4 April 2018.

Victoria Atkins: We have written to all employers in scope of the gender pay gap reporting regulations that have not yet registered to report, on four separate occasions, ensuring they are aware of the requirement and urging them to report.In recent weeks we have telephoned all organisations who have not yet registered on the gender pay gap website to ensure that they are on track to report.We have also run an intensive social media campaign, and placed advertisements in national newspapers.To date, more than 9,000 organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors have registered to report on the government portal, a clear indication that they are aware of their responsibility.

Facial Disfigurement: Discrimination

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to promote the protections enshrined in the Equality Act 2010 for people who experience discrimination as a result of facial (a) differences and (b) disfigurement.

Victoria Atkins: People with severe disfigurements are treated as having a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 and therefore benefit from the same protections from discrimination as any other person with a disability.Facial conditions not amounting to disfigurements are not covered by the Equality Act 2010 unless they have a substantial and long-term adverse effect on an individual’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities.The Government provides guidance notes for people who believe they have suffered disability related discrimination.https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/570382/Equality_Act_2010-disability_definition.pdf, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission provides a range of guidance on disability https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/disability-advice-and-guidance .In addition, the Equality Advisory and Support Service provides free advice and support to individuals with any discrimination concerns.

Recruitment: Facial disfigurement

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to ensure employers comply with the provisions in the Equality Act 2010 on discrimination against people with facial disfigurements applying for jobs.

Victoria Atkins: People with severe disfigurements are treated as having a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 and therefore benefit from the same protections from discrimination as any other person with a disability. For employment, this protection extends to all activities related to filling vacancies including the application and interview process.As with other aspects of civil law it is for those who feel that they have been discriminated against to personally seek advice or redress by bringing the case to court.The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has a monitoring and enforcement role in relation to the Equality Act 2010. If the EHRC suspects an employer of committing a breach of the discrimination provisions, it can conduct an investigation and take action to ensure the employer avoids a continuation or repetition of that breach.